We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kat Hawley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kat below.
Alright, Kat thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I knew very early that I wanted to have a creative path in life. I’d say at the age of nine. I was in the school chorus, choir at church and I also took acting classes. I was a shy kid when I was young and the urge to want to express myself and perform in front of an audience gave me that extra push to get out of the shyness. I became very serious in my singing and stage performing when I was 15. I stopped drinking soda – still don’t drink soda to this day, along with other various rituals to preserve my throat and vocal chords but, I believe it was around that 14-15 years old age range when I started professional auditions, being apart of my high schools competitive choir and dance troupe which was very much like the popular tv show “Glee”. I knew that I either wanted to be a professional vocalist, a stage performer in musical theater or do some type of physical comedy acting, a dancer or involved in some type of art form like fashion. I loved makeup, I loved the stage so, my stage makeup skills were very good. Right out of high school I went to cosmetology school. I became a licensed cosmetologist to do hair and makeup while I went to school for performing arts. So, I think I had a broad understanding of some type of creative practice that I’d do professionally.
Kat, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. I’ve been singing professionally for over 20 years as I started doing professional theater when I was 15 years old as well as singing in a professional traveling gospel choir and church. After college, I then began working as a worship leader and music director at a few different churches. However, It wasn’t until I started touring with 16 time Billboard #1 Contemporary Jazz guitarist, Adam Hawley, who also happens to be my husband, is when I saw a new path for myself as a vocalist. It all happened so organically when he started his solo career after years of touring with other artists such as The Manhattan Transfer, Jennifer Lopez, Natalie Cole, The Backstreet Boys and so many others, he started touring with his own music. One day he asked me to sing a song in the show. It went really well so the next show he said, “Let’s do two songs this time” and so on and so on. Now, it’s been nearly nine years that I’ve been touring with him as a featured vocalist. For years, at our Meet n Greets and merchandise line after shows, everyone would always ask for my material and I didn’t have any! Haha! Now, that I have released my debut album X • IX • VIII, I perform some of my own material in the shows with him and he is kind enough to play guitar in my band when I have my solo shows.
Working as a professional vocalist touring constantly is much more work and is harder than one would think. The work and dedication put in is usually always a surprise to many. One way that I ensure my vocals are always clear and smooth are the rituals of discipline I follow is no soda drinking. I haven’t had soda since I was around 15 years old. Of course I’ll take sips of some but, we don’t buy it in our home, I don’t ever purchase it. I just don’t drink it to avoid coating on my vocal chords. I also stay away from dairy products either starting the day or night before a show or the full day of a show. Dairy products along with most soda are phlegm inducing and coats your throat so, I make sure to stay away from all of that. I do vocal warm ups before any time that I am singing whether it be for a rehearsal, a short show or a long show. I tend to do many of the warm ups in the shower. I love doing that because I get the benefits of the hot water steam relaxing my muscles, soothing the respiratory system and clearing it all out. I also am a tea drinker over coffee any day. Coffee usually will dry out my throat. Everyone is different but, all of these things with plenty more is what helps my vocal sound be what it is.
Finding the time to stay healthy with movement and sleep is incredibly important. While on the road if we have a show every night within a 3-5 day run, depending on if we drive or fly, we usually only get anywhere between 1-3 hours of sleep. Say if we’re in Atlanta and we play D.C. the next night that means we’re taking the first flight out in the morning to get to the next city. Shows will typically let out around 9pm-10pm. We then do our Meet n Greet, sell merchandise, talk to guests and take photos. We then have to pack up our gear and all of our items in the green room, change clothes. By the time we get back to the hotel it’s around 12 midnight or later. We then have to find something to either pick up or order for food, pack our bags and by this point, we have to wake up in 1-3 hours to head to airport to catch that 5am or 6am flight. When we touch down in the next city we usually either have a rehearsal or soundcheck with the next band in the next city as we do have regional bands rather than traveling city to city with one band. Depending on the show time and how swiftly soundcheck goes, we have anywhere between 2-4 before showtime. And the night repeats with the timeline and sleep time. Even when coming back home from the South, East or Midwest, we still usually take the first flight out because we typically have a layover, plus the time change we like to be able to get home early and have the day versus leaving later from the East and spending 8-10 hours traveling to then get home at 8pm or later. So, more times than not, when we’re in a city we really don’t get to “see” the city other than the airport, the hotel and the venue where we’re playing. Every now and then we can enjoy a meal at a restaurant. So, when people assume that our work isn’t “work” because we’re doing what we “love”, I do have to enlighten them with a few examples to help them understand. Of course I love what I do but that doesn’t mean that I don’t take it seriously or put in time to learn music and the strenuous schedules on the road as well as at home with production work and the list of responsibilities we have with our record label MBF Entertainment that my husband founded and has signed five Contemporary Jazz artists onto his label.
Working all over the country and worldwide definitely forces one to have an intricate schedule for daily things. Especially, as a wife and mother of a teenager. Keeping all of our schedules synced,with nothing overlooked and forgotten is definitely a sport. My sons elite basketball schedule, other school activists, academics, his modeling career is just as intensive as my husband and my touring schedules. We are truly blessed to have the help of my mother who lives with us so, when we are out of town working, our son is in great hands being taken care of with his schedule and routine unbroken.
She’s such a helping hand and so supportive of our work. Another reason why my husband and I can both be free creatives and thrive at what we do.
I am so proud of the work that I have done with my new album. I felt that it shows my professional diversity in my styles of songwriting, arrangements as well as vocal range and ability. One of the main things I’m incredibly proud of the album is the title, X•IX•VIII. It’s my sons birthday 10•9•08. I wanted the title to be something strong and meaningful that represented who I am. His birth date stuck in my mind for months, even after coming up with other strong titles. This one just felt right because, he is such a huge part of who I was to become when I became a mother and who I am now. I do believe that I can and could write beautiful lyrics about life and love if I were not a mother but being so, one sees and experiences life and love in a completely different way so, X•IX•VIII it was.
With my music and my brand I would love for fans, listeners and music lovers to feel every emotion through the lyrics and production of each song. If it’s a song I intended for moving and grooving, that’s what I aspire to be heard. If it’s a moody, hypnotic tune, I want the listener right there with it. I just want to make really great music that can translate and transcends.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I think I have pivoted a couple of times in my life in my career but, I will share about the time I worked at an Aveda Salon. As I mentioned before, I went to school and became a licensed cosmetologist right after high school before college so, I’ve worked in different hair salons as a stylist, at a spa as a stylist and aesthetician. I’ve worked at Disneyland as a stylist for the characters, a professional makeup artist as a freelancer as well as with major cosmetic companies. Well, as much as I loved doing anything beauty, there was always my other creative part of myself that was missing. I did at different points in my life still sing as a worship leader in church but when working in beauty, I wasn’t always able to. So, I worked at this salon for a few months and it slowly started becoming not what I loved and kind of soul crushing. I remember a couple of times I’d drive there to be at work for the day, sit in the parking in my car, dreading to go inside. After sitting and contemplating, I’d just call in sick for the day. That would be such a hard decision because if I wasn’t at work then I of course wasn’t getting paid for the day. But, I wasn’t thinking of that. I was just thinking of how much I didn’t want to be in there for 6-8 hours. Shortly after that second time of sitting in my car in the parking lot, I quit and made my focus on getting more singing jobs and being able to lead worship at a couple of different churches for that time.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Rheumatoid Arthritis which is when your immune system attacks its own tissue which with its chronic inflammation it most commonly effects joints in the hands and feet but it can really be anywhere and it can also damage other body systems like the heart, eyes, skin, lungs and blood vessels. Every case with each person is vastly different. Since I was blessed to be properly diagnosed at seventeen after months of being ill, I was put on the correct medal treatment from the start. In 2016 I suffered a back injury from a car accident that threw my disease into a frenzy with the trauma my body was experiencing and I was on so much medication from steroids to muscle relaxers to anti depressants and so much more. After over a year of physical therapy, chiropractic treatment, being in pain, massive weight gain, being immobile I really had to fight for my health and mental health that I didn’t want to live that way anymore, in a kind of handicapped way being so young in my life and really had to make a decision. After an incredibly long journey of recovery, when I felt that I could, I started on a more holistic path and have been doing very well since 2017.
However, there have been many times where I’m flying a lot and the schedule is non stop and my back will get achy or my hands feels tight and painful, or I am incredibly fatigued or I have brain fog for hours due to lack of rest, or my body will feel achy and just…unwell. Most of the time all I want to do is lay down and rest myself but sometimes we’re unable to make it to the hotel before soundcheck or even be able to get to the hotel until after the show or there’s no where to lay in a green room or quite place to regroup so, I really have to grit it to make it through. Once I’m on stage and performing, I feel great because of the adrenaline and the peoples energy and I love what I’m doing but definitely afterwards I am so grateful when I can take my heels off, relax in the hotel bed with some food and sleep. As my mother has ALWAYS said to me, “The show must go on”.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kathawley.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathawleymusic?igsh=NGVhN2U2NjQ0Yg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091317350785&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=Kat+hawley
- Other: https://music.apple.com/us/album/x-ix-viii/1747783629https://open.spotify.com/artist/0B2zUlJ4Kuy6nIfl14kPT3?si=EzBtvu_gQAWrbQO9x0ss3A
Image Credits
Steve Limones (photos 1, 3 & 13)
Allison Paraiso-Sillicani (photo 6 & 10)
Michael Brown (photo 4)
Fernanda Kenfield (photo 8)
Joy Russle-Nicholas (photo 2)
Dave Koz Cruise Photographers (photo 5)
Imre Barta (photo 16)